Friday, January 27, 2012

With a heavy heart I say goodbye to my father. He lived hard, worked hard, and was a generous person to all. Involved in every activity and organization known; Masons, Shriners, VFW (Korean War Veteran), Moose, Elks, and Distinguished West Virginian to name a few.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Well, as promised I got a few images of the light stand and new seedlings finally coming up.

First, the light stand/shelf/table in action. I will pick up another light for the bottom Saturday. I have it on a timer that starts at 6 in the morning and goes off at about 7 at night. Right now I have the three plats you see. I will start a second set of all three this weekend.

Here you can see the broccoli and two lettuces I have going. These are about 2 weeks old.

Here I have some Impatiens, Straw Flowers, and Marigolds going. Started them at the same time.

Here's the Phlox and For Get Me Nots. I hope to get these going good and them transplant them to their final resting place for the year. Maybe in about another month.

I took a glance at the beds tonight but not much is going on. We have a cold spell going on right now and this weekend's forecast is rain. I can't wait for spring to arrive! Maybe I'll get the top light done since I won't be outside doing anything. May even house hunt Saturday. Looking for 3 bed, 2 bath on about 1 to 2 acres. More would be nice but that drives the cost up. Old farm would be heaven. Who knows. Talk to you Saturday.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Not much is happening on the garden front lately. I planted some lettuce, broccoli, and carrots a few weeks ago but haven't seen anything from them. Hopefully the recent rains didn't spoil my starts. I do have some broccoli, lettuce, and some flower starts growing in the new light stand. I will snap a picture for you this evening as well as a snapshot of the stand in action. It is breathtaking to be sure.
This post is about my adventures out and about. I will from time to time take a snapshot of something that is just plain cool.

I took this picture several weeks ago while walking the WOF. Beautiful Saturday morning with temperatures in the mid 60s. My kind of winters.

Four different ways to look at essentially the same picture. I took these with the el'smartphone on Onslow Beach ("Here I am sitting here with no beer" For my british comedy- watching friends. Look up Keeping Up Appearances) on Camp Lejeune, NC this past Sunday. It was cold then AND there were people in the water! Crazy.

This I took yesterday morning as I was driving south to a job site. It was early and the sun was thinking of coming up.

Nothing like a rainbow early in the morning. They lie about the gold though. Don't listen.

I received another seed catalog in the mail a few days ago. Seeds of Change is the company. I believe they only sell heirloom products harvested organically. I glanced at it but will take a closer look tonight.

Still have to get the top light mount figured out on the light stand/shelf too. My idea is to have bracket that will go from being vertical to swinging the lights down into position. Ah, we'll see.

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Well I got the light stand painted last night and tried out one of the lights this morning. Upstairs it goes tonight. I did check on my previous plantings last night and the Lettuce and Marigolds are coming up now, even with the minimal light they've been getting. This will be a welcome addition for them.

This shows one of the lights hung. I am going to stick with the 2 bulb lights as I can get the fixture itself from my home center for $10.00 each, including pre- plugged. Bulbs are extra.

I have an idea for the lights that will go over the top of the table. A sort of pivoting mount that will allow the lights to swing out of my way when they are not needed. I will add the painting information to the Light Stand Construction link on the right. Oh, the colors are a satin white that was left over from the kitchen walls and I got a quart of Frosted Grass to use on the legs. A really light green I guess. Looks good to me.

Monday, January 9, 2012

Well, I finally did it. I made my light stand for my starter greenhouses. All in all, it took me about 3 1/2 hours overall to build at a cost of about $51.00. So far. The main unit is done but needs painting, upper light brackets, and lights. I have a couple of 2 bulb shop lights but I'd like to get two 4 bulb lights. Oh well one thing at a time. I will start painting tonight and hopefully finish it off tomorrow night.

I can get 4 plats on the bottom and 4 on the top. It's made from mostly junk lumber at the local home improvement store. The tops are 5/8" particle board. Reason for the paint as water and particle board do not mix. I have a separate page showing the complete process with the link to the right. I did have some help too.

She came sniffing around, probably looking for food.

So this is what my Sunday looked like. I know it will drive the wife nuts having it inside. Worse yet, i plan on keeping it in her scrapbook room as it stays pretty warm up there. Let me get started on the Construction page!

Saturday, January 7, 2012

I received my Territorial Seed Company seeds today! Well, all except my carrot seeds. Which by the way I actually picked up up some from Home Depot today, along with my herbs, 3 starter green houses, a soil tester that I've been wanting to try, and an Orchid for my wife. The green houses are the standard type from Jiffy but they were $4.99 each. I may go back tomorrow and pick up some more. The soil tester is supposed to tell you the fertilizer and PH balance in your soil. I tried it out and it seems to work OK. The Orchid is for her wanting to green up the house. We'll see how long it takes her to kill it.

I did get some broccoli and carrots in the garden today, plus started some flowers, more lettuce and broccoli in the new new greenhouses. I will start more broccoli and lettuce in a few weeks. I was planing on using the old computer cart as a grow stand but after much figuring I believe it will be too small, so back to the drawing board. The table I set them on tonight in my wife's scrapbook room is just the right size for 4 plats. I think I will try to design and build a 2-3 level grow stand.

It was a beautiful day to say the least. 69 degrees late this afternoon. I can really get used to days like today. Hope to have some ideas for you tomorrow.

I have most of these seeds already and just ordered some from Territorial Seed Company. Territorial Seed Company also has a garden planner that is useful. Click here to check it out. I will more than likely get the herb seeds from my local store. I also purchased an 18 gallon tote to try my hand at a SWC. I am now on the lookout for some big, round, wooden containers. I want to use them for my herbs this year.

It seems that winter has finally caught up with us. High of 38 and low of 21 tomorrow. But it is supposed to warm up later this week. Well, time to get busy on the light stand (Saturday project), then I want to get the Columbine flowers started, clean out junk from the garage, and straighten the rest up.